Equatorial Guinea thrashed host Ivory Coast 4-0 on Monday to progress to the AFCON knockouts as Group A winners – at the expense of the hosts.
Ivory Coast looked the more dominant side at the beginning of the match and had a few chances to open the scoring, but former Arsenal star Nicolas Pepe was wasteful in front of the goal.
Equatorial Guinea finally broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute through their captain Emilio Nsue’s strike. Carlos Akapo entered the penalty area with a brilliant solo run and found his skipper with a square pass inside the six-yard box and Nsue made no mistake in slotting the ball home.
The host Ivory Coast were unlucky to see two goals disallowed either side of half time after VAR checks on both occasions, as scorers Ibrahim Sangare and Jean-Philippe Krasso were both found to be in an offside position.
As Ivory Coast pushed for an equaliser, the National Thunder then scored two goals in quick succession to seal the fate of the game. In the 73rd minute, Pablo Ganet found the back of the net with a stunning curling free-kick nearly 20 yards from from goal. Two minutes later, Nsue completed his brace.
Second-half substitute Jannick Buyla then scored a fourth and final goal in the 88th minute to complete the rout against the Elephants, in what will surely go down as one of the biggest shocks in tournament history.
